A real nice dark red/brown colour with a slight khaki head.Malt and caramel aromas.Sweetness, nutty, malt flavours.Mild mouth feel. Nice and gentle carbonation.Quality German beer! Before the craft beer explosion, this would have been a favorite. (250 characters)

I'm a huge Dunkel guy and I love this one, always available in my area a good price point, and smooth rich flavor a little more floral to me than American counterparts.nice warm caramel malty flavors. (201 characters)

On tapDark amber brown with a durable foamy beige head. Surprisingly rich and nutty aroma. This is followed up by the flavor which is nutty but not rich. The feel is a bit too thin and might benefit from a touch higher carbonation. (236 characters)

This is a beer you don't want to serve ice-cold. The last sip was the best!

This is a nice dunkel brew from Germany, but nothing special. It is better than average, but still nothing to write home about. It pours out a nice medium brown with a great smell of roasted malts and bread. The taste follows the nose, with a nice crisp mouthfeel despite the darker colour.

This is a beer I'd drink, but probably not buy again. That isn't an insult, just not much of a compliment. (476 characters)

12 ounce bottle into lager glass, bottled on 8/27/2013. Pours crystal clear ruby red color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of caramel, toast, toffee, brown bread, light roast, raisin, pear, apple, herbal, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance of dark/bready malt, yeast ester, and light hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of caramel, toast, toffee, brown bread, light roast, raisin, pear, apple, herbal, and yeast earthiness. Zero bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of carmel, toast, toffee, brown bread, light roast, raisin, pear, apple, and yeast earthiness on the finish for a short bit. Good balance and solid robustness of dark/bready malt, yeast ester, and light hop notes; with a very clean finish with zero cloying flavors. Medium carbonation and body; with a smooth, crisp, and lightly bready mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with no warming present after the finish. Overall this is a good Munich dunkel style. Good balance and solid robustness of dark/bready malt, yeast ester, and light hop flavors; and very smooth and crisp to drink. A pleasant and enjoyable offering. (1,329 characters)

Single purchased from Wegman's in a Mix-A-6 Pack or whatever they call it. Poured into a standard pint glass.

A- amber/brownish pour that produced a finger of light tan head and quickly died down. Minimal lacing. Pretty standard from the other Dunkels I have seen.

S- brown sugar, toffee, some dark fruits

T- sweet malts, zero bitterness, dark fruits

M- light bodied, little carbonation, smooth

O- not a style that I have had a lot of, but I expected more roasted malt flavors. Very drinkable, smooth and clean. Definitely could put a few down...if someone else made the purchase. Not a bad beer, but nothing I would go out of my way to purchase. (686 characters)

I picked up a bottle of Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau's Spaten Dunkel a couple weeks ago for $2.99 at The Bavarian Inn. My buddy @Mottozappa helped re-spark an interest in Dunkel's and Dark Lager's and since I've never had this one before I thought I would give it a try, so lets see how it goes. No visible bottling date. Poured from a green 11.2oz bottle into a imperial pint glass.

A- The label looks ok, it's got a pretty simple and clean design, but it isn't too eye catching. It poured a fairly clear amber brown color that took on more of a dark ruby and crimson color when held to the light with two fingers of light tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left a little bit of spotting lacing behind. This was a nice looking beer, it looked fairly true to style.

S- The aroma starts off with a lower amount of high sweetness that has a slight brown sugar like aroma to it and it's followed by a the malts being the first to show up and they impart a slightly grainy, brown bread, bread crust, toasted, caramel and toffee like aromas with no single aspect seeming to stick out the most. Up next comes some dark fruit aromas with a light doughy yeast aroma with an equally light nutty aroma. This beer has a nice aroma, but I wish there was some roasted malt aromas.

T- The taste seems to be pretty similar to the aroma and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness followed by the malts still being the first to show up and they impart the same aspects that they did in the aroma and they are followed by the dark fruits that show up even more then they did in the aroma and it seem to stick out the most in this beer. Up the finish there's a light nutty flavor followed by pretty much no bitterness and a dark fruit, sweet malt and toasted malt like aftertaste. This was a decent tasting beer, but I want more roast and less dark fruit flavors in my Dunkel's.

M- Smooth, clean, a little crisp, light bodied with a slightly lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel was nice and it worked well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a decent beer and a decent example of a Dunkel, but I tend to like my Dunkel to have a more noticeable roasted malt aspects and with this beer it was the dark fruits that seemed to stick out the most and that's not really what I'm looking for in a good Dunkel. This beer had ok drinkability, it was smooth, clean, a little crisp and not filling at all, but the taste didn't do a good job at holding my attention and one would be enough for me, but if I wasn't worried about taste I'm sure I could drink more than a few of these. What I liked the most about this beer was the mouthfeel, it was nice and it worked well with this beer. What I liked the least about this beer was that it wasn't as true to style as I would like and it didn't seem as balanced as some of the better Dunkels. I wouldn't buy a bottle of this again, but I would for sure try it on tap to see if it's any different and I wouldn't recommend this one as a good Dunkel. All in all I was little let down with this one, I was expecting a pretty good Dunkel, but this one didn't live up to my expectations and so far it's my least favorite Spaten beer, better luck next time guys, this one just wasn't for me. (3,284 characters)

Spaten's Dunkel is a fairly satisfying, slightly kilned malt forward dark lager that has plenty of caramel-like sweetness with bread crust and toasted nut flavors. Easily drinkable, fairly low alcohol, and generally satisfying. Not sure why this isn't more widely availble in the states, considering Spaten's enormous owners. One I'd pick up again if in the mood for these flavors.

Pours a modest 1cm tall head of beige-colored foam, which fades in about one minute to a thick ring around the perimeter of the glass and a few medium-sized islands of thin foam lingering atop the body. Lacing is good, with an above-average scattering of lines and dots clinging to the sides of the glass. Body is a dark golden orange-brown color, with light revealing dark golden orange hues. Carbonation visible through the transparent body, moderate in number, high in activity.

Beer is medium to medium-light in body, with carbonation of medium-low intensity, resulting in a beer that has a moderate initial foaminess that gradually fades to a smooth mouthfeel. Closes dry, with medium-low stickiness clinging to the palate. (2,097 characters)

A: Completely clear dark amber topped with a large, dense head that dissipated quite quickly leaving no trace on the inside of the glass.

S: Very bready and malty aroma with a caramel sweetness. It wasn't upfront or dominant but I also detected a strong hop presence behind the other elements.

T: Mostly malty and bready as with the smell but with a slight bitter bite which I expect comes out of the roasted malt. I didn't taste as much caramel as I expected but there is a sweetness and a raisin-like flavor.

M: Very light and crisp. Goes down smooth.

O: Not the most complex flavors but totally true to the style. A great beer if you are after something darker in color and flavor but with the smooth, refreshing, simplicity of a lager. (781 characters)

This is a go to beer for me and I can never speak many flaws about spatens line up.

A- right of the bat the beer is beautiful. Pours a gorgeous deep reddish brown. Almost like a cherry cola. 4 finger head no less, of khaki colored froth. Nice little retention not too much not too little. Lacing just hangs around, with every sip it records the level of beer in the glass! Couldn't ask for more at this point.

S- Very strong malty presence with coffee and oatmeal raisin dreams just emitting from the glass. Not too much beyond that. Leaves a bit of space for the imagination.

T- Malts... endlessly deep malts; very toasty. Currants, concords, and raisin... a little bit of butter cracker, a small aftermath of dark chocolate. All is pronounced and nothing is overpowered. Sheer Perfection.

M- Not the highest carbonation. Some people may describe this beers mouthfeel as "chewy" but I do enjoy those... It happens to have some calories so do not expect the beer to be super refreshing. To me yes, to most... no. Medium bodied beer no doubt.

O- Still and will always be my favorite spaten! the others in the line up compete and though not much separates them, they fail to beat the Dunkel. Year round, its a great beer to enjoy, but perfect for the beginning of spring and mid fall. (1,288 characters)

One of the best beers I drank at Oktoberfest 2010. I also grab a glass or two on the weekend at the local Bavarian resort near my house. This is a smooth, dark, rich and semi-sweet brew that is very easy to drink (almost goes down like water). I am a big fan of Spaten in general, this being my favorite variety they put out. The purity of the ingredients lend to the purity of the flavor balance and smooth quality of this beer. The flavor of the malt and hops is so delicately balanced being a dark beer it makes this one of the more unique German beers that I have found. The smell is very sharp, fresh and potent which matches the full and robust flavor upon first sip. These are easy to drink indeed, but watch out because they pack a whallop of alcohol that can sneak up on you. (784 characters)

what a wonderful beer its a great tasting beer a dark red beer taste great , but the smell its smells like a green bottle not skunkie just a green bottle smooth tasting dark red smooth going down very nice beer to drink hope to find it again enjoy it (250 characters)

t: The flavor is delicious. I really am enjoying it. A very smooth chocolate flavor with an ending flavor of vanilla and grassy malts. Again, very plesant.

m: Nice coverage witin the mouth. Not real heavy but not very light. Light oil texture, but each sip and it's flavors all manage to disappear between gulps.

o: I know I mentioned it earlier but I really enjoyed this beer. Veryy unique flavors - reminds me of some vanilla casket beers, only lighter on the vanilla and heavier on the chocolate. (785 characters)

Mouthfeel - Could use some more carbonation. other wise, a nice consistency.

Taste - Dark fruit, I taste raisins, a touch of bitterness to help balance the great malty sweetness, nothing overpowering,

Smell - freshly poured, it's amazing, rich, full flavor, dark fruit,

Overall - tastes like a beer that should have more alcohol, I really wish it did. If it had as much alcohol as Spaten's Optimator (7.5%), I'd get a sixer of this regularly. Nonetheless, a great tasting brew with plenty to offer. My first dunkel, and based on it's low ratings, I'm guessing I need to go try some more of this style. (695 characters)

Appearance – Pours a brown-mahogany color with highlights of red shinning through. Upon pouring there is a small off-white head that fades fast leaving very little lacing on the sides of the glass but a thin film floating atop the brew that lasts for quite some time.

Smell- The aroma is heaviest of a caramel and toffee sweet smell mixed with some notes brown bread and a light amount of cocoa.

Taste – The taste begins with a bready flavor of dark roasted malt with some light chocolate and caramel. The sweeter flavors that were present initially fade quickly as some flavors a more bitter grape/wine come to the tongue. This more bitter wine like flavor as well as a light herbal hop flavor, that comes to the tongue at the end of the taste, end up combining with the roasted malt and the light sweetness to leave a odd fruity, roasty, and somewhat of light bitter tannin flavor to be left the tongue.

Mouthfeel – The thickness and creaminess of the beer was very average with a carbonation level that was average as well. The middle road fits this beer rather well as the darker flavors would likely be better with lower carbonation and higher thickness, while the wine like tannin and sweet flavors are likely better with the opposite (thin body and higher carbonation).

Overall – While at first I wasn’t wild about the brew, it grew on me as I drank it more. The mix of the roasted flavors and the more fermented grape flavors create a rather soothing taste. Not bad. (1,528 characters)

Spaten München Dunkel has a thick, lively beige head, a clear, bubbly reddish-brown appearance, and lots of splotchy lacing left on the glass. The aroma is of sweet brown bread, and the flavor is the same with some slight caramel, wine, and hop notes. Mouthfeel is light-to-medium, and Spaten München Dunkel finishes semi-dry, crisp, refreshing, and highly drinkable. Overall, this is a most excellent beer.